MEETINGS AND MISUNDERSTANDINGS

DISCLAIMER: I don't own the characters of BTVS or W.I.T.C.H. and I earn no profit in writing this.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This takes place in the same continuity as 'I'm Done' but is not a sequel and stands alone quite well. If you have any comments or preferences, please don't be shy. RandR.

Will Vandom wasn't worried about her mother. This was explained by the simple fact that she hadn't been home all night. The current crisis in Meridian took precedence over the grounding she was sure to get. She knew she'd be in trouble when she got back home, but she couldn't worry about that. Elyon was missing, kidnapped by the old hag that had been behind so much of the kingdom's recent troubles.

Elyon's mother was pacing furiously, ringing her hands. Her father was calmer but not by much. Both blamed themselves. That, Will decided, had to stop. "It's not your fault," she insisted.

"No," Caleb agreed. "It's mi-"

"No it isn't, and that's not helping!" Cornelia snapped. "None of us suspected Trill. What we need to do now is find a way to fix this."

"Maybe the Oracle could tell us more, now," Irma suggested. "We still don't have her real name, but we know what she was after. We know where she's been and what she's done."

"Maybe the Knights could tell us more about her," Taranee suggested. "When we tell them how she was using them, and that she's not gonna rescue them, they might get mad enough to tell us something useful."

Will nodded. "We'll try both. I'll go see the Oracle with what we know. Irma, you and Caleb talk to the knights. Make with the mockery."

"I can do that," the brown-haired girl grinned.

"The rest of you search Trill's room talk to people who know her. Find out anything you can."

"I don't think that'll lead anywhere, Will." Taranee pushed her glasses up her nose in a familiar gesture. "She's been playing this role for years, and she fooled everyone, even Phobos who was always on the lookout for spies." Will sighed.

"You're right. We need to…" A bright flash interrupted them and the last of the knights of vengeance landed before them with a thud. Blunk stood on the big creature's back, looking extremely pleased with himself.

"Blunk?" Caleb snapped out of his funk to stare at the sight before him. "What happened? How-."

"Blunk capture Frost," the passling practically crowed. "Matt helped."

"Where was he hiding?" Caleb asked, interrupting Will's near automatic question regarding her boyfriend's safety. Frost was the last of the Knights unaccounted for and the reason for their presence in Meridian. Had he not managed to slip away, and subsequently been spotted in his human guise in Heatherfield, they wouldn't have even known about Elyon's kidnapping. Will had folded to Meridian to let Elyon know, only to learn of the latest catastrophe.

If there was any good news, it was that his capture meant that the hag, whoever she was, had no supporters. Guards were called while the Guardians and Caleb gathered around the passling.

"On Earth." Blunk suddenly looked more serious. He turned to Will. "Big problem. Will need know."

"What do I need to know? Is Matt-?"

"Matt fine," he assured her, "so is Will's mom."

"My mother?" The leader of the Guardians grew pale. "Wh-what about her?"

"Knights hire man on Earth to capture her. Blunk see and follow. Guardians gone, so go find Matt. We rescue."

"She's okay?" Blunk nodded. "She saw you? And Frost?"

"No. Matt told Blunk bring Frost here before opening door."

"You should go, Will," Hay Lin interrupted. "Go see that she's okay."

Blunk gave her the address and Will reached for the Heart. She paused a moment to glance at the others. "Go," Taranee insisted. "Check on our families, too. I'll talk to the Oracle." Will nodded and vanished.

"Our families?" Cornelia looked as shaken as Taranee felt.

"They're scattered across the country. Yours is in Paris. Will's mom and Hay Lin's grandmother are the only ones still in Heatherfield. Trill, or whoever she is must have been planning this as a distraction. We can't let it work." The others nodded, reluctantly, but didn't look any less worried.

OOOOOOOOOO

Danielle glanced at the building the tracking spell indicated. "She's in there, and still alive." Maria nodded once. "How do you wanna handle this?" the younger girl asked. At 15, Danielle was what many would have called a late bloomer. She stood only four ft. tall and could easily pass for 12. She tended to defer to her 17 year-old partner in almost everything. Maria stood just shy of six feet tall and was Danielle's opposite in a lot of ways. A serious, bookish girl, Maria spent as much time in the library as she did in the gym where they trained. The standing joke was that she was going to be her own Watcher.

Danielle didn't have the patience for books. She loved to push herself physically, loved the whole Slayer package, and seemed to have an endless supply of energy. Even Faith had been worn out by her raw enthusiasm. Their current assignment, keeping an eye on Dawn Summers, should have been an easy one. Their presence hadn't been explained to Dawn that way, of course, but the oldest living Slayer's sister wasn't stupid. She knew that the two had been sent from their training center up the coast to watch her back rather than investigate vague rumors of evil pixies.

"I'd prefer to do a little recon," Maria admitted, "but we don't know why she was brought here or what they have planned. Straight in, fast and hard."

"I like it," Danielle smiled as they moved toward the entrance, keeping to the shadows as much as possible before rushing through the door. The sight that greeted them was not the one they had expected. Dawn Summers was standing with an older, dark-haired woman and a boy about Danielle's age. They were gathered around a prone figure in a ski mask that Summers had just finished hogtying.

"Hey, guys," Dawn offered conversationally, ignoring the crossbows. The others weren't as nonchalant. The boy actually raised his hands, but Danielle could see by his stance and the tension in his shoulders, that he was evaluating them, measuring distances, making and discarding plans. He seemed especially focused on her for some reason. She saved him the trouble and embarrassment by raising the crossbow.

"You okay, Miss Summers?" Maria asked. Dawn nodded.

"Yeah. Matt here got me out when he came to rescue her." She nodded to the older woman. "This is Susan Vandom." She then introduced the two Slayers to her new friends. "That," she pointed to the prone figure, "is the guy who snatched us. I'm thinking Q&A."

"I'm thinking police," Susan put in. "I'm also thinking, why does your rescue party consist of two teenage girls with crossbows?"

"As opposed to one teenage boy with a club?"

"Point." She looked at Matt. "Why didn't you go for the police?" Dawn thought it a good question. He obviously wanted to keep her from knowing about demons, and she wondered what he would come up with.

"I didn't know why he'd brought you here or what he might do to you. It was just the one guy, and I didn't want to waste time going for help." Not bad, Dawn admitted. Believable.

"And it had nothing to do with impressing Will?" The implied accusation actually surprised him, Dawn noted, judging by his expression.

"Actually, no, I was just thinking how she'd hurt if anything happened to you." He didn't look away as he said this, and after a moment, Susan nodded, seeming to accept the answer. Dawn noticed, though, that there was no mention of small, smelly green demons or mystical trinkets.

"Who's Will?" Maria asked.

"Her daughter," Dawn answered quietly. "Her thirteen-year-old daughter, whose boyfriend knows about demons." The two slayers traded knowing looks before refocusing on the two 'civilians.'

Wanting to move past the awkward moment, Susan turned her attention to her kidnapper. "Lets have a look at him." She reached down and pulled the ski mask off before anyone could think of a reason she shouldn't. The face that action revealed made her jump back. Though, to her credit, she didn't scream or faint. "What? What is that?"

OOOOOOOOOO

Matt eyed the creature curiously. He'd never seen anything quite like it. There were several sentient species native to Meridian, but he'd never seen one like this.

"M'Fashnik," one of the girls commented, looking not at all surprised.

"You've seen this type before?" Matt asked. Will's mom, he noted was looking back and forth between the two. He could see the gears spinning in her mind.

"Matt? What is that thing?" she demanded, her voice rising slightly. "What do you know?"

He sighed. "Not as much as you might think." He looked at the creature. "I think we'd be better off just going. These three seem to know what they're doing, and I don't think giving this guy to the police is really an option."

"Good thinking," the short girl, Danielle he remembered, smirked, but then her head cocked toward the door. "Company. Might be friends of his," she nodded at the unconscious creature. "I'll check it out." The short, dark-haired girl went to the outer door and peeked out before darting through. A few seconds later, there was a bright and very distinctive flash of light. It was followed, in quick succession, by three more before Danielle dove back through the door.

"Danielle?" Maria asked, concerned. The younger girl looked decidedly spooked, which Matt could understand. He knew the situation could get ugly if he didn't step in. He was reluctant to reveal more than he already had to the strangers, but they seemed to already know something of magic and creatures from other dimensions.

"You know those rumors we came here to check out?" Maria nodded. "Not rumors. And it throws lightning bolts."

"Real rumors?" Dawn asked, eyeing the door warily. "I thought Buffy just sent you along to keep an eye on me."

"And you think we couldn't come up with a better lie than evil pixies?" Maria snorted, raising her crossbow to cover the door while Danielle reloaded. "Please. Give us some credit."

"Whoa!" Matt interrupted, deciding he'd best act immediately before someone got hurt. "Let me handle this. I think I know what's happening." He headed for the door. "Relax," he assured her when Danielle grabbed his arm with a strength that surprised him. "I know her." She considered for a few seconds. "She's gonna bust the door down any time now, and those crossbows aren't going to help. I have to calm her down." She let him pull away and walk outside.

"Evil pixies?" he heard Mrs. Vandom ask.

"You don't want to know," the younger girl assured her. Whatever else passed between them, he didn't hear it as the door closed behind him.

"Will?" he called, looking around. Then he saw her coming down off the roof. "It's okay. Your mom's safe."

"What happened?" the irate and very worried redhead demanded.

"Blunk saw your mother snatched and came to get me. I arrived to find a guy in a ski mask pointing out the unit she was locked in to Frost. We managed to stop them, and Blunk took Frost to Meridian."

"And Miranda?"

"Miranda? OH! No. That isn't Miranda. Kind of looks like her, I guess, from a distance. Her name is Danielle. She came here to rescue another woman the guy in the ski mask kidnapped." He paused and frowned, puzzled. "There's something weird happening there, Will. I mean they showed up with crossbows, and the guy in the ski mask isn't human, but I don't think it involves us. Lets just get your mom home safe, and worry about the others if we have to, later."

"This guy? From Meridian?"

"Don't know. Maybe." Matt shook his head. "I've never seen anything like him."

"Okay," she agreed after a moment. "I'll meet you there." She rose into the air and took off for home. Matt watched her fly out of sight before turning and heading back in.

"We're good. Time to go Mrs. Vandom."

"Good?" Danielle demanded. "What was that?"

"Relax," Matt hastened to reassure her. "It was just a misunderstanding. She thought you were someone else."

"What? Who?" Matt was hesitant to answer, sneaking looks at his girlfriend's mother.

"Answer her, Matt. I want to know too, and I want to know if you involve my daughter in things like this." The tone brooked no argument. Susan had gotten over her shock for the most part and was slipping into mother bear mode.

"Well… She's kind of… feuding with this spider thing. It can look human when it wants to. It can look like a little girl with dark hair, kind of like yours. From a distance, I guess you look like her."

"And how do you know these demons?" Maria asked.

"Demons? Um… Who said anything about demons?"

"A spider creature that can look human and an evil pixie that throws lightning bolts?"

"Not evil," Matt interjected, hastily. "Okay, the spider is, but the, ah, pixie is one of the good guys, honest. She doesn't show herself often, but she does help out in emergencies."

"We'd like to talk to her," Maria told him. "Can you arrange that?"

Matt shook his head. "I don't have her phone number or address, but if I see her again, I'll give her a message."

"And Will?" Susan interrupted, growing short-tempered.

"Doesn't know about any of this, and probably wouldn't want to. Frankly, I don't want to, hence the, um, leaving now." The M'Fashnik chose that moment to groan, and Matt started. "Really time to go," he took Susan's hand and pulled her toward the door. "I'd rather not be here when he wakes up."

She nodded, for once in full agreement with her daughter's boyfriend and hurried after him.

OOOOOOOOOO

"Well, that was odd," Maria opined after kicking the M'Fashnik in the head to put it back to sleep.

"He definitely knows more than he's saying," Dawn agreed. "Will Vandom could be a slayer we haven't identified yet. That would explain a few things, but lets not jump to conclusions. We'll do the usual tests." She glanced down at the M'Fashnik. "In the meantime, lets see what we can learn about this guy."